How can I help prevent my horse from getting a sore back?
Back problems are some of the most common issues found in our horses today, and something many owners worry about. A horse with a back issue can feel uncomfortable when being touched or groomed, unhappy being tacked up or in their work and may also show lameness.
Back issues in horses can vary from tight, sore back muscles to muscle atrophy or even bony pathology such as Kissing Spine. There are lots of things we can do to help horses that are already dealing with these issues, however ultimately the best thing we can do for our horses is to try and help prevent them from developing these issues in the first place.
The horse has not evolved to carry the weight of a rider on their back, and if we would like them to this job for us we owe it to them to help them develop the body they need to do that job. And that was the focus of the latest webinar from Horses Inside Out, presented by Gillian Higgins herself and titled ‘Preventing Back Problems’
In this webinar Gillian gives her 10 Top Tips for preventing back problems in horses. In this blog I would like to share them with you, and hopefully inspire you to visit the webinar for yourself to learn more about each one.
But before sharing the top 10 tips, Gillian also talked about the theory in preventing back problems. This was split into 8 categories:
Strengthening the core muscles - thoracic sling, abdominals, hip flexors, pelvic stabilizers, psoas muscles and deep vertebral muscles
Stretching the topline - having a good balance of the extensor & flexor chains of muscles
Improving posture & symmetry - when the horse is in good posture the forces travelling through the soft tissue will be even through the body & the joints will be in the correct position for optimum range of movement, reducing the risk of injury
Mobilise back joints
Improve lateral suppleness
Improve lateral strength & stability (strength & stability needs to be balanced with flexibility & suppleness)
Maintain fascial health
Maintain bone density
Then it was time to learn HOW we can out this theory in to practice, following Gillian’s 10 Top Tips.
Cardiovascular Fitness - helps to improve posture including toning the dorsal serrate breathing muscles which also support back posture. Cardiovascular fitness can be achieved with long, slow distance work, interval training, canter work, hill work, swimming & aqua treadmill.
Regular Assessment of your horse - take regular photographs, assess posture & body condition, assess your horse in motion on a straight line and on the lunge and record video.
Keep a journal for your horse so that you can know their normal and recognise any changes - temperature, pulse, respiration, postural notes, general health notes, exercise & training record, team appointments
I would highly recommend the Horses Inside Out Exercise Planner for this - it’s a new release from Horses Inside Out that is an accompaniment to the new Pilates Programme, the planner can be purchased as part of the whole set or as a stand alone. It has sections for recording all of these things and also helps guide you through creating a 12 week plan of Pilates exercises for your horse, allowing you to record and monitor your horse’s progress.
Backing up - one of the exercises in the new Pilates programme, this exercise is one of the key foundational exercises I recommend to my clients. Backing up works the core muscles as the exercise helps to move the weight of the horse over the hind limb and also lifts the thorax. There is no moment on suspension in the gait during the back up which makes it a low intensity exercise whilst also being very beneficial for strengthening. Gillian recommends aiming for 10 steps in a row.
Raised walk poles - another favourite of mine, I have a set of 8 raised walk poles set up permanently so that my horses can do them every day and this is also what Gillian recommends, to make the exercise easy to include as part of your daily routine, even when bringing horses in and out from the field. When a horse walks over the raised poles the limb that is on the ground works to stabilize the whole body, the back lifts and flexes, back rotation increases, the base of the horse’s neck comes up and back and the head lowers. Walk raised poles in fact meet all 8 points from the theory and is a low impact exercise so you can do lots of reps. In the webinar Gillian shares ideas for walk poles and also distances for setting out your walk poles.
Small circles - these help the horse to use the lateral flexion that is available to them in the back and also increase rib movement which in turn increases back movement. There are some fab illustrations of this using painted horses in the webinar which gives you a really good visual as to why these small circles work so well and also how to perform them correctly, as it is quite common for handlers to not get this right.
Polework - a huge topic and so many variations and options available. I would actually recommend visiting one of Horses Inside Out’s previous webinars ‘Poles for Posture’ to get more ideas for this top tip. If you sign up for a FREE account on the Horses Inside Out Academy you can purchase this webinar for only £10!!
More canter work - canter tones & shortens the abdominal muscles, each stride is like a ‘sit-up’ for the horse. Canter can be performed ridden or on the lunge or at liberty. Canter poles can also be introduced, on the ground or raised. You can do your canter work on a hack, in an arena or why not hire your local gallops?
Improve lateral stability - horses with poor lateral stability can present with limbs that twist more or swing out to the side. The lateral stability muscles of the forelimb include the trapezius, rhomboid, deltoid & infraspinatus. The lateral stability muscles of the hind limbs include the gluteals & biceps femoris. In the webinar Gillian shares exercises to help with strengthening & toning these muscles. These can also be found in the new Pilates Programme.
Massage - performed by yourself as a horse owner in conjunction with your chosen Equine Musculoskeletal Therapist, massage is hugely beneficial for the comfort and mobility of your horse. If you want to learn more about massaging your own horse, I would recommend checking out the Horses Inside Out Massage for Horse Owners book & online course. I think horse owners can do so much to help their own horses but I also strongly believe that an experienced and professionally qualified Equine Musculoskeletal Therapist should be a key part of your horse’s team.
Variety - did you know that repetitive strain is a common cause of injury in the horse?
Try and include variety not only in your horse’s training but also in their day to day environment. Including but not limited to - regular turnout, varying feed positions, adding obstacles around the turnout such as logs, varied surfaces & terrain, hacking, hill work………the list could be endless.
Hopefully Gillian’s 10 Top Tips have inspired you to take a look at your own horse’s routine and how you might be able to make adjustments to support their back health and indeed general musculoskeletal health.
I would definitely recommend checking out this webinar for much more in depth detail on each of the Top Tips but also do take a look at the new Pilates Programme, I will be sharing my thoughts on this also very soon.
